by Felix Richter, Statista.com
According to two studies published last week, Apple’s iOS still has the edge over Android in terms of mobile advertising.
Opera Mediaworks, a mobile ad platform serving more than 50 billion impressions per months, reports that iOS devices accounted for 45 percent of mobile ad impressions as opposed to Android’s 21 percent. In terms of mobile ad revenue, the difference between the two platforms is even bigger: iPhone, iPad and iPod touch accounted for 49 percent of ad revenue, while Android phones and tablets accounted for no more than 27 percent of the first quarter total. The discrepancy between share of impressions and revenue share hints that ad impressions on iOS devices are on average more expensive then they are on Android devices.
The second study, published by mobile ad server MoPub, serves one possible explanation as to why iOS ads are more expensive then those served to Android devices: they are much more effective. In March 2013, the average click-though rate on iOS devices ranged from 2.5 percent on the iPad to 1.7 percent on the iPhone. The average CTR on Android devices was significantly lower at 1.1 percent (Android phones) and 1.0 percent (tablets).
